


Never Wanted Nothing More

by charmed4fiction



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Slight Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 11:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7799590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charmed4fiction/pseuds/charmed4fiction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Al was better at relaxing when we were kids. Long, lazy summers of doing nothing—</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Wanted Nothing More

Al was better at relaxing when we were kids. Long, lazy summers of doing nothing—or in both their cases pouring over endless amounts of Alchemy books and journals. With Winry's insistence, they’d be doing nothing and that’s what they sometimes did—mostly. Of course mostly translated to being what she said they were, ‘kids’ and for them to enjoy the long lazy summers of doing nothing. Granted, they’d wasted away full days down at Bleak creek, fishing or seeing who could cannonball the farthest off the knotted rope that proudly dangled over the lake from which the stream flowed. Sometimes they’d ride their bikes down to the local ice cream shop, which admittedly Edward had to concur that it was the best ice cream he’d ever tasted, not that he was an ice-cream aficionado— he was not. He’d only ever eaten ice cream from the local Mom and Pop hot spot, aptly called ‘Mom & Pop Scoops.' The owners had opted out of adding milk to their creations favoring the use almonds and cashews as an alternative. It was delicious! He’d always smack his lips over and over at the mere fact at how creamy and indulgent they made it tasted.

Being ten would always remain an enviable age in Edwards mind. Though he fondly reminisces about the last summer in Resembool when he was that age and his innocence as a child were just that: childhood innocence. During that time is was ‘take it easy’ and ‘do nothing.' Leisurely enjoy life to the fullest as the best as a child could, judiciously experiencing everything around with bright wide eyes.

The last year Edward had spent there was contrastingly different— He would not wish what he'd endured (or cause) however which way you look at it, he’d always done the latter, on any child. A ten-year-old should not have to bear the burden of burying his mom. No child should see their brother body torn away, leaving behind only a soul. A beautiful soul— Alphonse’s soul, was wrapped in a bounty of innocence. And Edward vowed he'd keep it like that forever.

He'd always keep innocence surrounding his brother, no matter if he had to give him all of his, which case in point was all but ten years worth. But those years were nonnegotiable. Experiencing the pleasures of happy idle days, wandering, wondering, day-dreaming; those were all his happiest memories. Memories of homemade apple pie cooling on the kitchen windowsill, of lavender scented linens drying on a clothes line, kissed with warm sun rays.

His mom gardening, knees buried in the earth, broad sunhat, hair tucked behind her ears, as she trimmed her rose bushes and cleared away weeds awhile planting new seeds. His mom, smiling when Alphonse made her his first figurine of a hummingbird. She’d put on the same windowsill that she’d used for cooling the apple pie, overlooking her garden.

His mom, when Ed had translated one of his dad's alchemic books from Latin into English. She’d called him her little golden alchemy genius and lifted him over her head, singing, “Soar my little bird, high, higher in the clouds,” and then she’d kissed the top of his head and whisper in his hair. “I love you, my little sun.”

He’d even vaulted a memory of his dad, a good one. He’d let it out occasionally, on days such as this— His father swinging on the porch, his mom lazily relaxing in his embrace while he demonstrated his genius in Alchemy to two eager and rambunctious boys.

He never wanted anything more, nothing more that what he had and that was all Edward needed, but such is life: fucked and he’d gotten the short end of the stick in respects to his life from since that horrible night: October 3, 11. It was a night that he would not forget and although the memory recedes in the farthest reaches of his mind, making its way to the forefront nightly, he did not let it guide his life.

He’d made a promise. A promise that he’d kept. A promise that he’d fulfilled. Alphonse was sprawled out on Granny’s back deck comfortably surrounded by his innocence, gazing up at puffy white clouds floating by in the sky and soaking up the summer sun rays. He’d doze off and on, but he remained there, lying in the same position. He was always better at relaxing than Edward.

“Hey there, I don’t have a care in the world?” Edward leaned over his brother, blocking out the sunshine. “Why don’t we go down to the ice cream shop?” His brother shifted his position so that he could continue soaking up the sun again. “I’m sure Winry would like to accompany her two dashing beaus. Huh-huh or maybe her one dashing boyfriend, because I’m sure my idiot would be appalled at hearing such a confirmation…” Edward trailed off, getting a reaction from his brother.

“I can’t believe I’d forgotten what summers were like in Resembool.” Al said, taking a deep breath, “I cannot believe I’d forgotten what the sun had felt like.” Al was now leaning up on his elbows. “I remember mom’s voice lately. It’s nice.”

Edward smiled, “I was just thinking about the end of summer 06.”

Alphonse stared at him thoughtfully for a few seconds, “I can’t remember that one, but I loved when you talked about it because it was the last time dad was with us, albeit not when we saw again, but you know what I mean."

“Yeah.”

They both fell silent for a few moments, Edward reflecting on his life from then and his life now. It’s true that the first ten years of his life were full of happy memories, and he’d give anything to be sent back in time and relive each and every second of them. However after all he’d been through, the suffering, the experiences, the pain, losing his mom, losing his brother’s body, his arm, his leg and then his dad. In hindsight, all his losses should amount to him being reclusive and a broken existence. Fortunately, through all his shit, he’d found someone who had sparked his soul into life again. This someone who refers to him as 'his sun' and who he felt comfortable with, like they were an extension of his entire life.

Edward is what he is; he can remain to live in past, or he can move past that time and keep it a memory: a beautiful treasured memory. He sure as hell did not want anything more, because everything he wanted was right in from of him. And he also had his someone, Winry, Granny and all the other beautiful souls that crossed his path.

“Brother, I’m sure Roy would not mind coming to the ice cream shop as well. I’ll go and get Winry and stop idling. We have all summer for you to daydream. Your idiot is probably driving Granny up a wall. Should I tell him to come out?”

Edward smiled again, “Sure, Alphonse.”


End file.
